Compensating feed for moving-picture machines.



M. SEGH..

COMPENSATING FEED FOR MOVING PICTURE MACHINES. APPLICATION FILED FEB.|8.1914.

1 ,27 1 ,6233.v Patented July 9, 1918.

"IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII A lul-h m1 M. SEGEL'. coMPENsATlNG FEED FOR MOVING PICTURE MACHINES APPLICATION FILED FEB. I8, |9I4:

Patented July 9, 1918;

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

I I I I I I l l W/wesses www y@ alu' aff f MMM ment.

MICHAEL SEGEL, 0F NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNB 'lfO 'UEBELMESSER, OF IBAYSIDE, NEW

ELIZABETH MEHLFELDEB.

Yonx.

COMPENSATING FEED FOB MOVING-PICTURE MACHINES.

specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jury e, 1918.

Application tiled February 18, 1914. Serial No. 819,892.

To all whom t may concern: l

Be it known that I, MICHAEL SEGE ,.a citizen of the United States, residing at ew York cit in the county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Compensating Feeds for Moving-Picture Machines, of w ich the fcllowing is a clear, full, andv exact description.

This invention relates to a device for motion picture machines adapted to automatically tend to kee the upper and lower nloops 0f the ilm uni orm and to automatically form a loop should the lilm, for any reason,

become taut between the upper vand lower sprockets and the sprockets adjacent thereto.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a sectional part e1evat1on of a motion picture device embodying my rmprovement, the section bemg taken on a l1ne 1-1 in- Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is a sectional side elevation, the

section being taken on'a line 2-2 in Fi 1. Figs. 3 and 4 are enlarged longitudinal sectional views ofthe upper and lower sprockets respectively.

Fig. 5 is a -top plan view of the upper sprocket.

` Fig. Gis an enlarged detail side elevation, looking from the right in F ig.-3, ofthe upper reel operating gear.

Fig. -7 is an enlarged detail sectional side elevation of the lower reel operating gear.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my improved device as applied to a motion picture machine; the arrangement of the parts of the machine, as herein illustrated, is arbitrary, the object being merely to illustrate the essentials of the motion picture machine in connection with my improve- As herein illustrated, 1 indicates the casing' of a motion picture provided with an upper sprocket 2, lower sprocket 3, idler sprocket 4 and the film advancing sprocket 5, which advances the lm step by step. The sprocket 5 is operated by any su1table device arranged to'rotate it ste by step as, for instance, the well known neva movement 6, which I will not describe in detail. 'lfhe operating handle 7 operates a gear 8, whlch said Geneva movement; the handle 7 also operates a gear 1l, Fig. 1, which'meshes with a gear 12 carried b a sleeve 13 rotatably mounted on the sha 14 ofthe sprocket he sleevel3 carries a gear 15 meshing with an idler 16, which in turn meshes with the gear 17 on the shaft 18 of the lower sprocket 3. Through this train of gearing the lower sprocket 3 is driven. The lower or take-up reel 19 is driven by means of gearing 20', one member of which is carried by the shaft 18, and gearing 21, one member olf vvhich is mounted on the shaft 22. The sia t perating shaft 23 by friction disks 24 held in contact by a spring 25.v i

The upper sprocket 2 is driven by the movement of. theV lower sprocket 3. The lower sprocket carriesA a' gear 26, which oper-v ates a gear 27 carried by the vertical shaft 28 supporting at its upper end a gear 29 meshing with a gear 30 loosely mounted on the shaft 31 of the upper reel 2. The connection between the gear 30 and lupper sprocket 2 is releasable for a purpose to be hereinafter described. rlhe shaft 31 of the `upper sprocket 2 also carries a gear 32, meshv 22 is frictionally connected to the reel As will be evident the shaft 31 will be driven at the same speed asthe sprocket 4, which is the regular speed of the drive, and as ylong as the lm is moving properlyall of the sprockets2, 3 and 4 will move at the same rate of speed, it being borne in mind that the sprocket 2 -is driven from the sprocket 3, and not directly from 'the regular drive, or drive common to the other sprockets'. They sprockets 2 and 3 will, at all times, that is to say, as longas the lm is operating normally, travel in unison, but should the lower loop become taut, both sprockets will stop. Should the upper loop become taut the upper sprocket 2 will be caused to connect with the regular drive, which it is normally disconnected from. The object of connecting the upper sprocket Iwith the regular drive should the upper loop become taut, is to again form the upper loop.

Should the lower loop become taut it will, afterv the lower sprocket stops, be again Larmes formed, vduring the period of rest of the lower sprocket, 'by the operation of the intermittcntly. operated sprocket 5.

Referring particularly to the sprockets 2 and 3 it will be seen by referring to Figs.

3 and 4 that they are `of a special construction, which I will now describe. Both the sprocket 2 and sprocket 3 are `rel'easably connected to' the elements which drive them. In lother words the sprocket 2 is driven by the loosely mounted gear 30, which is, as has been stated, driveny by the lower sprocket 3, through'the medium of rectractable pins 37 o oacting with cam slots 38 in the gear 30.

The pins 37 l are also adapted to engage a cam plate 39 secured to the shaft 31, should the sprocket 2 stop by reason ofa taut film. When the pins 37 engage the cam-slots 40 in vthe plate 39 the sprocket 2 will be connected to'the regular drive. The pins 37 are held' sleeve 41*l is provided with cam slots 43 similar to the'cam slot 38 in the gear 30. The sprocket 3 is provided with a brake mechanism, adapted to absolutely stop the rotation of the sprocket should the lower film become taut..v

. stops the u per sprocket also stops.

To arrest the movement of the sprocket 3 l employ a slidable brake shoe 43 carried by pins 44 in the sprocket 3 as shown, springs 45 bein employed to keep the brake shoe 43 norma ly out ofcontactwith the stop 46, which' is fixed. The sleeve 41a is provided with lingers 47, `which passes through openings 48 in a collar 49 secured to the shaft 18.. By this means the sleeve 4181 will rotatel and yet slide upon the shaft 18 when it is forced out of contact with the sprocket 3.

During the operation of the machine should the lower loop becometaut, as shown lby dotted lines A in Fig. 2, the lower sprocket 3 would stop due to the pull of the straightened loop. When the lower sprocket As soon as the ower sprocket stops, the cams 43 on the sleeve 41a would force the pins 44 toward thel left, causing the brake shoe 43 to contact with the stop 46. As l preferably employ a plurality of the cams, in this in-1 l stance 2, as shown in Fig (i, the shoe 43@ will remain in contact with the stop 46 until .the depressions again aline with the pins 44, at which timethe shoe will leave the stop 46. 'During the time that the shoe and stop are in Contact the sleeve 41 will be held out of contact with the sprocket 3, hence the sprocket Iwill remain at rest.

When the cam depressions aline with the pins the springs 45 will force the said pins into said depressions and the shoe 43 and stop 46 will' break contact. When thisv action has taken place the sprocket 3 will again rotate.

During the period of rest of. the sprocket 3 the action of the sprocket 5 willform a new loop in the box 50, the film to form the lower loop being taken from the upper loop inthev box 51.. As the roller`4 is smooth the film will slip over the surface thereof.

When the upper sprocket comes to rest, being caused to do so by the cessation of the movement jon the part of the lower sprocket, or rather when the'upper gear 30` comes to rest, the cams 38 will force the pins 37' in the u per sprocket toward the right (see Fig., 3l)

causing them to engage the cams 40 on the late 39. As soon as the said ins engage tllfe cams 40 the sprocket 2 wi hence it will be'given a thrust forward, increasing the loop in the box 51, which is taken up by the sprocket 5, and formed in the box 50. As soon as the pins 37 aline with the depressions adjacent the cams 38 the springs 51 will force the pins into the said depressions, which will cause them to leave the plate 39 after which the sprocket 2 will be connected with the gear 30. As all of the sprockets will travel at the same rate of speed the sprockets 2 and 3 will be thrown out or in with respect to their operating devices simultaneousl Should the upper loop ecome taut, as shown by dot and dash lines B (Fig. 2) the upper sprocket 2 only will stop, and when it does stop it will be caused to connect with the regular drive, which will, as hasgbeen described, form a new loopin the. box 51.

A further feature of the devices consists the machine is put in operation. By referring to Fig. 7, which is a section of the shaft 18 and gear 17 for thel sprocket 2, it will be seen that the said shaft carries a pin 52 which passes through 'aws or slots 53 in the hub 54 of the gear 1 lt will be evitheir initial movement, the lower take-up reel 19 will be driven slightlyfaster than the other rotary element; this action pulls the lm in the box 50 ahead, causing it to leave the wall thereof. As'soon as the ihn is pulled the s rocketf3 will be advanced to the extent of t e movement of the pin 52 in 'be connected with the regular drive,

vof means to move the film out of Contact 1 with the wall of the boxes 50 and 51 when iso `clutch member at least one of the speeds of said upper'feed roller.

y2. In a moving picture machine yhaving a lower and an upper continuously rotating feed sprocket, said lower sprocket being provided with speed arresting means, in combination with means to arrest the motion of the upper feed sprocket when the lower feed sprocket is retarded, consisting of common driving connections between the two sprockets. 3. In a moving picture machine or the like, an upper feed sprocket driven by the lower feed sprocket, said lower feed sprocket having mounted in its body a device consisting of plungers and tension springs and controlled by the film to engage or disengage said lower feed sprocket with the general mechanism of the moving picture machine.

4. In a motion picture machine, a plurality of film advancing sprockets, a main drive therefor, an intermittently operated sprocket operated by said main drive, one of said film advancing sprockets being normally connected to said main drive by means of a clutch and adapted for disconnection therefrom, another of said sprockets bein connected to and operated by the sprocket rst named by driving connections therewith, but adapted for disconnection sprocket and connection to the main drive automatically by clutch and ratchet interv posed in the driving means between said sprockets. V. 5. In a moving picture machine, an upper continuous feed sprocket for a film, a loop in said film after said sprocket, an intermittent sprocket, a loop in said nlm between said intermittent sprocket and a lower feed sprocket, means to arrest the motion of said lower feed sprocket, in combination with a device consisting of driving connections and for the upper feed sprocket, controlled by the lower feed sprocket forl the purpose of compensating one loo at the expense of the other loop, as descri ed.

6. In a motion picture device, an upper continuously driven sprocket, an intermittently driven sprocket, a lower continuously driven` sprocket, a film passing over said s rockets forming a loop before reaching t e intermittent sprocket, and a loop after reaching the intermittent sprocket, a device higher speed driving from said rst named and a brake forgsaid driving membe consisting of a drivin by one of said sprockets to vary the speed of the upper sprocket and arrest the speed of the lowercontinuously driven sprocket simultaneously as soon as the'iilrn becomes tight in the loop between the intermittently driven sprocket and the lower continuously driven sprocket automatically and substantiallyw as described.

connection fvzontrolcled H. ln, a moving picture machine or the like, an upper feed sprocketl driven normally av lower feed sprocket, an additional means for said upper feed sprocket to engage said' sprocket and advance the speed thereof when the film on said sprocket exerts a forward pull on said sprocket.

8. In a motion picture machine an upper feed sprocket adapted to be supplied with a plurality o f-speeds by a selective driving mechanism which is controlled by the combination of the film thereon automatically consisting of afilm feed sprocket, a support therefor, a plurality of rotary driven members, said members revolving at diiferent speeds and a clutch member controlled by the film on the sprocket to engage the rotary members alternately.

9. In a motion icture machine an upper feed sprocket and a lower feed sprocket, means for maintaining a predetermined slack in the film comprising a selective gear drive mechanism, means for controlling said gear drive mechanism by the lm.

10. In a motion picture machine an intermittently driven sprocket and a continuously driven sprocket, means for accommodating a loop of film between -said sprockets, a continuously driving member for said -sprocket 11. In a moving picture machine or the like, a continuously driven .film sprocket mounted on a shaft loosely, a driving gear mounted on said shaft in such manner as to allow the sprocket a predetermined amount of radial freedom before being positively engaged by the driving force of said shaft, for the purpose of reducing the loop controlled by said feed sprocket, a cam on the drive gear, a brake on the sprocket, a shift'ably MICHAEL SEGEL.

Witnesses:

-MABEL DrrrENHoErnR,

H. MoN'rGonmRr. 

